Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday pledged to continue the party’s efforts toward building a nuclear-free nation, a goal that he said is shared by the public.
Noting that work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) has been suspended, Chu, who doubles as New Taipei City mayor, said the issue of whether construction should resume must be decided by a referendum.
Chu was addressing remarks made by KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who on Sunday said that as 3 million households lost power supplies during Typhoon Soudelor, she would not rule out resuming work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant if she is elected.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Typhoon Soudelor caused the loss of power to 4.3 million households across the nation — the worst blackout caused by a typhoon in the nation’s history.
In April last year, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration decided to immediately halt construction of the nearly completed power plant amid mounting public sentiment against nuclear power.
The government also decided that the question of whether the plant should be put into operation in the future must be determined by a national referendum, which is unlikely to be held until after the next president is inaugurated in May next year.
Hung yesterday said that the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant would be subject to a legal process.
She said that politicians should tell the people the truth about the energy shortfall facing the nation.
While everyone is willing to support the goal of building a nuclear-free nation, it is very important to determine what methods should be used to achieve that goal, Hung said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized Hung over her remarks.
“We hope Hung can be more cautious and professional when speaking about energy issues, as it is obvious that the power outage was due to damage to the power supply system caused by the typhoon,” DPP Spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said. “It has nothing to do with a power shortage, and we hope Hung understands this.”
Cheng said that the DPP would not change its objective of making Taiwan a nuclear-free nation, and would put more effort into green energy sources and policies aimed at conserving energy.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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